Tim Cook Details Apple’s Philanthropy at Town Hall

It’s easy to be envious of Tim Cook and why not? He’s clearly making some bank. At the same time though, he has a difficult path ahead of him. He must mould Apple in his own vision without straying too far from the path the organization was on when Steve Jobs handed over the CEO title.

At a recent employee town hall meeting Cook announced some very nice discounts for employees and now The Verge is reporting on an apparent total of $150 million in charitable donations including $50 million to Stanford’s hospitals by Apple. This is on top of the employee matching program that he instituted in August when Jobs’ stepped down as CEO.

And, in addition, he appears to have spent a lot of time managing the news of harsh working conditions and underage employment and the criticism surrounding it.

All of these things point to goals of creating a better image for Apple and I couldn’t be more proud. With a brand like Apple, which is already so loved, it’s important to retain the brand evangelists who sing Apple’s praises but don’t have much ammo when others point out some of the black marks that Apple holds.

Should Apple continue with the Steve Jobs mantra of no philanthropy or continue this move towards charitable contributions?